"As for recruiting high-ranked Mages," one would find it impossible just as you can’t even recruit Harvey; other Holy Sanctuary Mages can’t be tempted by Belladett. Every Holy Sanctuary Mage has their own ideals to pursue, not bound by the hedonistic Belladett."
"If you want to quickly increase your family’s power, the only way is... to forcibly dominate other families’ elites!"
The Swindler couldn’t help but laugh, "A very simplistic deceit, not even kids in the Blood Moon would use it."
"But it’s effective, isn’t it?" Yvalin shrugged.
He suggested finding a way for them to destroy a vast amount of Belladett’s wealth, allowing the Gospel to determine that they are indebted to Belladett, thereby triggering the control Miracle... "But under the dual support of Void Realm and Gospel, it indeed becomes an outrageously effective strategy." Igula commented, "But I’m curious, why didn’t Belladett use this method before?"
"Why would we have used this method before?" Yvalin countered, "If we could continue to live in peace in the future, I would not resort to such annoying tactics. It’s all because of you."
"You are afraid of the future disasters predicted by the Gospel... No." Igula shook his head, "Is it because of your family’s Angel Inheritance?"
"It’s both, but no matter what, Belladett is just a bug that Harvey could squash easily in the future," Yvalin said. "The other families have gone crazy, they won’t let go of any straw to extend their family’s future... If Harvey could become the Lord of the Corpse King of Blood Moon, why couldn’t they?"
"Lacking high-level combat power, Belladett possesses such a legacy as the Angel Inheritance... From the day we came out on the ’Family Rankings,’ I knew my enemies were the other powers."
"To protect myself, I must chop off their hands before they reach out."
Igula couldn’t help but nod repeatedly, "That day when we appeared before you, you had already envisioned tonight’s scenario... It’s because there were baits like Ash and Harvey that they invaded Belladett without hesitation, breaking into your backyard!"
"You even prepared an escape route, the whole time you sheltered us unknowingly, turning it around to them invading Belladett Manor and damaging your private property, stepping back ten thousand steps you were just defending yourself legitimately, and even the Gospel thinks you did no wrong. As long as other families do not plan to immediately rebel against the Gospel, they can’t punish you—they don’t even have the Mages to sanction you already controlled."
"As for protecting a fugitive, the Gospel has never recognized Ash as a fugitive, it’s just an internal affair of the Empire, you just need to compensate a bit of money. But invading someone else’s residence, damaging private property, these are crimes recognized by the Gospel."
"But I have a question—what if they clear their debt?"
"They won’t clear it," Yvalin declared. "The ones lost are Technique Spirits, unless they return the same Technique Spirits, otherwise they are in debt to Belladett no matter what, even returning higher-grade Technique Spirits won’t count... It’s the Gospel’s biggest trap in debt relationships."
Igula couldn’t help but applaud.
For a Mage, it’s not always about higher-grade, rarer Technique Spirits, for instance, giving a Two-winged Mage a Three-winged Technique Spirit is useless, giving a Fire Mage a Water Magic Spirit is even asking for trouble. It’s for this reason that the Gospel has set the debt relationship as ’must return the original’, which has become Belladett’s most terrifying trump card.
Divine Lord Gospel, Control Miracle, Void Contract... Yvalin’s scheme seemed childish to him, but because it perfectly utilized its resources, it actually succeeded in dominating dozens of elite Mages!
Even Igula had to admire Yvalin’s courage—she was scheming against the Red Hat and major families! Even if she had the support of Belladett, if anything went wrong, it would mean gratuitously antagonizing a large part of the Gospel, and unlike Hanna who would just pat her butt and run, she could only deal with countless people’s fury along with Belladett!
And now, five Holy Sanctuary Mages, dozens of elite Mages, they still don’t know that their minds are already half taken over. Even if Yvalin doesn’t directly control them, just through Mind Suggestion, she can establish a sturdy moat for Belladett!
"However, the plan going so smoothly, it’s all thanks to you," Yvalin looked back at Igula, "Hanna and the rest are the base of the puzzle, and you are the final piece."
"Such a top-notch deceit is rare even in the flourishing era of Blood Moon," Igula said, "I’m curious—where did you learn such skills?"
"...This isn’t my scheme," Yvalin said, "Speaking of which, did Hanna really not look for you?"
Yvalin summoned the Gospel Book to check, nodding slightly, "Strange, she’s not that quiet a person..."
"Shouldn’t you be cleaning up the mess now?" Igula remarked, "The scene still needs to be concluded by Belladett. By the way, are you planning to hide your control over them as if nothing happened, or are you going to unveil it to intimidate the major families?"
"No need to think so much," Yvalin said, "I just need to go down and scold them a bit, they will retreat with Ash and others on their own, and then tomorrow they will publicly apologize to Belladett, make amends, and form alliances."
"However, I do need to ’protect’ Hanna now, according to the Contract, at least fend off most people, otherwise Void Realm will judge me inactive." Yvalin jumped onto the balcony, "Thank you, Igula, without your expertise, I really wouldn’t have been able to deceive the other families."
"I didn’t deceive anyone, it was the Gospel that did," Igula stated, "Trust cannot be entrusted to indifferent Wonders."
Yvalin leapt down from the balcony noncommittally.
The Swindler went back to sit in Yvalin’s place, summoning his own Gospel Book.
"Trust can only be entrusted to those who are worthy."